Colombia: Journalist Flees Her Home After Attack

5th September 2014
Indy Staff

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Colombian journalist Amalfi Rosales (photo courtesy of RSF)

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced that Colombian journalist Amalfi Rosales was forced to flee her home in the northeastern district of La Guajira after unidentified gunmen fired three shots at her house on 2nd September.

According to RSF, Rosales already reported to the authorities two months ago that she is the target of constant threats via text messages to her and her husband. “The threats began in November 2013,” said Rosales. “Once, an unidentified person showed me a gun and told me to shut up, to stop telling tales.”

The reporter had been covering scandals involving La Guajira governor José María Ballesteros and the district’s former governor, Francisco ‘Kiko’ Gómez, who has been jailed for alleged links with paramilitaries and his suspected involvement in three murders.

Rosales filed an immediate complaint about the shooting and forensic investigators based in the neighbouring municipality of Fonseca told RSF that they are conducting an investigation. The reported said she continues to write articles despite the threats, but now she has had had to leave La Guajira to protect herself and her family.

“We call on the UNP [National Protection Unit] to act without delay to guarantee Rosales’ security,” said Camille Soulier, the head of the RSF Americas desk. “Her flight is just a temporary solution to the risks that she and her family are running. The authorities must conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the source of the threats that have been going on for so long.”

Colombia is ranked 126th out of 180 countries in the latest RSF index, released in February.